England- 1944. Major Reisman (Marvin) a smart but insubordinate
trouble-maker is forcefully given a difficult and politically
uncomfortable mission by General Worden (Borgnine): take a group of
military prisoners who are on death row or have long-term prison
sentences and build them into a capable team. Once the group is
together, they’ll be given a high-risk mission to go behind German
lines and destroy a chateau that is frequented by German generals.
Reisman is able to build the unstable group (with much flack from his
superior officers) into a cohesive unit through his leadership skills
and the offer of commuted sentences to the team. As the group heads off
on their mission, a few loose cannons (particularly Telly Savalas as a
wacko who thinks his violence toward women is dictated by God) threaten
to ruin the entire enterprise.

Director Aldrich’s extremely popular war film boasts one of the most
impressive big-name male casts in movie history. While some of the
violence seems a bit tame today, the acting by Marvin and the
supporting actors is terrific, entertaining stuff. Cassavetes was
nominated for an Oscar, but Marvin’s performance is just as good and
the rest of the leads do great and memorable character work. Aldrich’s
attempts at broader, male-bonding-type humor among the dozen is a bit
awkward at times (the Robert Ryan sequence seems forced), Marvin and
Jaeckel are effective in a few amusing bits.

While sold as an action movie, the focus of “The Dirty Dozen” is almost
entirely on dramatics with the battle saved for the finale. It’s a much
more enjoyable film if you know that going into it. Much is made in the
bonus materials of Aldrich’s uncompromising depiction of killing both
women and the generals by pouring gasoline on the screaming group and
destroying their underground bunker with grenades. While the inclusion
of this is intense, it doesn’t go as far as its intention, and it
really needs a few shots of the imprisoned group’s death throes to give
the sequence its full disturbing impact. Instead, we see a series of
B-roll shots of empty rooms blowing up, which is no where near as
effective.

What is surprising about the film is how little time and effort is made
to clearly depict and develop half of the main characters. It might as
well be called “The Dirty Six” for all the characterization and
differentiation the supporting players have. A few of the secondary
‘dozen’ look too similar to each other, which doesn’t help.

There’s some confusion about the original aspect ratio for “The Dirty
Dozen” and at least one previous home video release was presented at a
wider aspect ratio, leading a substantial number of people to presume
that this is a ‘Scope film. The large cast and subject matter certainly
would seem a fitting candidate for a widescreen production, but Aldrich
much preferred “matted” 1.85:1 and 1.66:1 aspect ratios. During its
original theatrical release, 70mm prints were made of “The Dirty Dozen”
which presented the film at a slightly wider ratio (more akin to
2.00:1) but this wider image was essentially the 1.85 frame with larger
mattes on the top and bottom. Presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect
ratio, the added resolution of HD DVD is particularly beneficial for
this film. Robert Aldrich’s directing style tends to favor medium shots
and close-ups and the crystal clear image transfer here makes the
actors seem nearly three-dimensional. In close-ups, beard stubble,
sweat, greasy clothes and crewcuts, are conveyed with such stable
encoding and image clarity that you become more involved in the
picture. There’s more to see in Lee Marvin and John Cassavetes’s both
in their bright eyes and their expressions and as a result it affords a
better window to appreciate the actors performances.

The imagery is so pristine that when any dupe shots in the original
film elements (including opticals and dissolves) appear, they are
instantly apparent, as the grain increases noticeably. This is not a
flaw, but a tribute to the beauty of the HD transfer over standard
definition DVD. One such issue is the scrolling names in the opening
credits. They’re part of a glitchy optical that cause the frame and to
warp as the name rolls past.

The 5.1 Surround track recreates the mix used for the 6-track 70mm
prints. It’s a crisp and clean mix, and feels faithful to the original
intentions, but does not utilize the surrounds too often. Action scenes
benefit from the wider sound field, and the music is kicked up in
intensity and presence, but it’s not a heavily directional or
manipulative mix. Audio is rich and warmly presented and dialogue is as
clear as it can be. Lee Marvin’s occasionally mumbled lines are
occasionally difficult to discern, but it’s not a disc flaw.

The 1985 TV Movie sequel “Dirty Dozen: Next Mission” (there’s no ‘the’
in the on-screen title) is presented in its original 1.33:1 broadcast
ratio. It’s not in HD, but it upconverts nicely to 1080i on the player.
The transfer looks a bit dated and grainy but it’s sharp and colorful.
This ill-regarded cash-in takes place a few short months after the
original and Major Reisman (Marvin) has gotten himself into trouble
again. General Worden (Borgnine) once again presses him to redeem
himself by training another ragtag band pulled from the military prison
and leading them on another deadly mission. There’s not much inspiring
here, and it plays as low-rent carbon copy of the original. Even the
new dozen falls into the same types as in the original- there’s a black
soldier, a crazy Cassavetes type etc. It’s really surprising that
Marvin and Borgnine returned for such junk. Their presence and Richard
Jaeckel’s gives this a false sense of legitimacy. Also on hand is Wolf
Kahler- everyone’s favorite Nazi stock player (he played “Dietrich” in
“Raiders of the Lost Ark”) in the post- “Raiders…” world.

“Armed and Deadly: The Making of the Dirty Dozen” is a half hour
featurette. It’s a terrific look at the making of the film, with
terrific and revealing interviews with the main cast, film scholars and
production personnel. It’s both insightful and worthwhile. The rest of
the bonus feature package is interesting, comprehensive and worth
delving into.